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Taking Attendance 5/6/2013: The Pros

Now that every professional (men’s and women’s) team in MLS, the NASL, USL Pro and the NWSL has had at least one home match, we can take a look at the attendance figures for each team in the various leagues through games of May 5. (As always, corrections are welcome.)

THE MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER

G

Total

Average

Seattle Sounders

3

117,471

39,157

Montreal Impact

4

100,512

25,128

Los Angeles Galaxy

5

105,156

21,031

Portland Timbers

5

103,370

20,674

Vancouver Whitecaps

4

77,657

19,414

Sporting KC

5

96,462

19,292

Toronto FC

5

96,439

19,288

Houston Dynamo

5

92,643

18,529

Real Salt Lake

5

90,764

18,153

Philadelphia Union

4

69,375

17,344

New York Red Bulls

4

68,213

17,053

FC Dallas

5

79,683

15,937

DC United

4

58,474

14,619

New England Revolution

3

40,882

13,627

Colorado Rapids

5

66,843

13,369

Columbus Crew

4

52,931

13,233

Chicago Fire

4

48,335

12,084

San Jose Earthquakes

6

62,699

10,450

Chivas USA

5

40,227

8,045

MLS TOTAL

85

1,468,136

17,272

NORTH AMERICAN SOCCER LEAGUE

G

Total

Average

San Antonio Scorpions

2

15,230

7,615

Minnesota Stars FC

3

15,714

5,238

Atlanta Silverbacks

2

10,402

5,201

Fort Lauderdale Strikers

2

9,764

4,882

Carolina RailHawks

2

8,794

4,397

Tampa Bay Rowdies

3

11,219

3,740

FC Edmonton

1

921

921

NASL TOTAL

15

72,044

4,803

USL PRO

G

Total

Average

Orlando City

4

31,660

7,915

Rochester Rhinos

1

5,963

5,963

Pittsburgh Riverhounds

1

4,000

4,000

Charleston Battery

2

7,808

3,904

Wilmington Hammerheads

2

5,955

2,978

Richmond Kickers

4

10,066

2,517

Phoenix FC

5

11,928

2,386

Dayton Dutch Lions

*1

1,436

1,436

Harrisburg City Islanders

2

2,769

1,385

Los Angeles Blues

*4

2,637

659

Charlotte Eagles

4

2,373

593

VSI Tampa FC

4

2,264

566

MLS Reserve Teams

3

10,373

3,458

USL PRO TOTAL

37

99,232

2,682

*=Missing one game

NATIONAL WOMEN’S SOCCER LEAGUE

G

Total

Average

Portland Thorns FC

1

16,479

16,479

FC Kansas City

2

10,848

5,424

Washington Spirit

3

12,682

4,227

Western NY Flash

2

6,192

3,096

Boston Breakers

2

5,747

2,874

Seattle Reign FC

1

2,618

2,618

Sky Blue FC

1

2,611

2,611

Chicago Red Stars

2

4,110

2,055

NWSL TOTAL

14

61,287

4,378

NOTES:

MLS, which drew six million fans for the first time ever in 2012, is on pace to do slightly below that (if every team holds its average for the rest of the season), but at 17,272 and playing to about 83% capacity, its numbers are healthier than ever overall. There are still trouble spots (Chivas USA, obviously, but to a lesser extent, Colorado, Columbus and Chicago), but the bright spots are very, very bright.

Starting the MLS season earlier than ever may be something they want to re-think (if it’s mathematically possible, given all the constraints). This year’s March average (17,803) was well off last year’s record 20,783 and below 2011 (19,225) and 2010 (17,992). The season began on March 2 this year, a week earlier than last year and almost two weeks earlier than the year before. I don’t know if there’s a strong correlation (I’d have to delve deeper into it) but those are the numbers. (Incidentally, the April numbers were right about in line with the last few years.)

Things are looking up in the early going in the Division II North American Soccer League, with strong showings in Minnesota (though not quite as strong as they wanted), the newly-rebranded United FC is 25% ahead of the former Stars’ numbers from a year ago, when they opened at the Metrodome and then moved back outdoors. They’re playing all but one of their Spring Championship matches indoors this time around.

In fact, every NASL team but Edmonton (where new stands are finally being constructed at Clarke Stadium) and San Antonio is up year-over-year and the league itself is up about 5%. (In the Scorpions’ case, they couldn’t match last year’s numbers no matter what, as their lovely new yard has a much smaller capacity than the high school football stadium the team played in last year.)

Orlando continues to set the pace in USL Pro (though their MLS chances took a hit late last week). The Lions drew club regular-season records of 9,140 on April 19 and then 9,589 eight days later (and had bad weather kibosh what could have been a couple of other great crowds). While mainstays Charleston, Richmond and Wilmington will be fine, there are troubling signs in Los Angeles (as usual) and Tampa Bay, while Phoenix has lost half its audience (and its club president) in its first month of play.

Incidentally, the league numbers you will see for USL Pro throughout this season will include the “crossover” games against MLS Reserve League teams. There have been three so far, with Salt Lake drawing a high of 8,263 for their game against Phoenix, Portland getting 1,803 for VSI Tampa Bay and Colorado getting 307 for Harrisburg’s visit. Without the MLS Reserves, the USL Pro average is 2,614 at the moment.

The latest attempt at women’s pro soccer, the NWSL, is 14 games in and Portland, Washington and Kansas City have drawn healthy (in Portland’s case, super-healthy) crowds. Boston’s off its former league-leading pace, but the big disappointment was Seattle, which drew just 2,618 for its inaugural against Sky Blue FC Saturday night. The Sounders Women (a different club altogether) led the W-League in attendance last year thanks in part to a star-studded roster, but the Reign is finding the going a bit tougher so far. Saturday will be Western New York’s first Saturday home game with Abby Wambach in the lineup, so we’ll see what happens there.

And, in case you’re wondering, the PDL season began over the weekend, with the Victoria Highlanders drawing 1,804 for their home opener, a 3-0 win over Kitsap. But LA Misioneros reported 100 for their match against Fresno and the awkwardly-named OC Blues Strikers FC (the former Pali Blues) drew 40 for its opener against Ventura County. The W-League season starts this weekend.

3 Responses to Taking Attendance 5/6/2013: The Pros

On May 7, 2013 at 10:15 am, Dale said:

I regards to Minnesota; their attendance is way up, but I would guess the cost of renting the dome is much more then the cost of renting NSC. I don’t know what the break even point is, but I would suspect they need bigger crowds to justify the cost.

Anyway, the dome is set to be demolished next February. What will Minnesota do then?

I would imagine you are correct, yes. I am going to guess the rent on the Metrodome surpasses that of the NSC. (Some enterprising Minnesotan might file an FOI request on that, now that SCOTUS has ruled states can deny requests from non-residents.)

That said, they have an owner for whom money is literally no object. These people obviously all have limits, but his are higher.

And, yes, they have been asked about what to do next spring when the Metrodome is unavailable. See McGuire’s response here: